Islamic State of Afghanistan

The Islamic State of Afghanistan was an Islamic state that existed in Afghanistan from 1992 to 1996 and from 2001 to 2002. The state was ruled by a provisional government headed by Jamiat-e Islami leader Burhanuddin Rabbani, and it was governed from the capital of Kabul. For much of its existence, the capital was under siege by Hezb-e Islami Gulbuddin forces led by Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, and the state was unable to establish full control over the country, which was caught in the throes of the Afghan Civil War. In 1996, the Taliban succeeded in capturing Kabul, forcing the Islamic State government to resist the Taliban from the northwest of the country. The former members of the government of the Islamic State formed the Northern Alliance, which returned to power in 2001 with the assistance of the United States, starting the Afghanistan War. In 2002, the modern republic of Afghanistan was created, replacing the Taliban's Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan.